Popular culture is so mainstream

I'm not going to wade in to the debate on what is and what is not popular culture I am just going to talk about the use of the phrase.

Popular culture is just something that a lot of people know or like it is therefore surely, by its very definition, mainstream.

As much as you try to think of yourself as an outsider immune to popular culture I will put money on it that you know the words to Come on Eileen and probably the dance to Oops Upside Your Head.

It doesn't matter if you are generation X, generation Y or maybe even generation Z. If one of those classic community centre disco songs come on you will have to dance. And gen Y I hate to break it to you but we are now dad-dancing like gen X.

What I don't like is when pop-culture and mainstream is used as an insult. Houses are popular and when it comes to sleeping I like being in one. I also don't mind sleeping in hotels and during the summer: tents, yurts and tipis.

The very nature of something being popular does not make it a bad thing. And if you don't like said popular thing, that is ok by me. But don't try and be all holier than thou about it cos it makes you look an idiot.

An iPod is usually the cause of a holier than thou breakdown. Music causes so much controversy. My view is 'let the shuffle be'. You are never going to find another person that loves and hates all the same songs as you. And to accuse someone of jumping on a bandwagon because they like some band that you liked before they were cool is utterly ridiculous. We can't all spend our time reading the NME and lurking on soundcloud.

And so we get to alcohol. It's very popular and it permeates into a lot of different cultures: Friday night after work, the bigoff Saturday night, Sunday afternoon with a roast, weddings, Christmas, christenings, in fact a lot of thing that centre round Jesus. Jesus likes a party, he was like the original vengaboy. He had a vengadonkey not a vengabus.

As you may know I do not drink anymore. I have not drank any alcohol since 29 December 2011 a fact that I am very proud of. I have still been out with friends as much as I did before I quit and I will continue to go out just as much. I love being in the pub and being around my friends. If they want to have a couple or even get hammered so be it. I will be there to drive them home.

The thing is I don't fit into a group when it comes to alcohol. I don't drink for health reasons. I will be better one day and then maybe I can face drinking again. But with this is mind I am not straight edge. I understand their reasoning and am impressed with their life choice but when they make statements such as "I think it's boring that people have to drink to have fun" I want to punch them in the throat.

People don't need to drink to have fun. It's a myth fuelled by our late teens and early 20s. Think of the last fun thing you did:

-videos of cats on YouTube
-watch spurs get beat
-laugh at your mate for saying something ridiculous about Zumba
-etc

I bet you did not have to be drinking a lovely, refreshing, cold, alcoholic beverage to have this fun but it would have been nice if you did.

Just be happy with the things you enjoy in life and let others do the same. You don't own music, art or any of those other things you love or loathe, so don't be so keen to impose your views.